Moist Chocolate Cake

Notes

• Oatly whipping cream is an easier route to ganache than dairy double cream.
• I often use 250g chocolate and 250ml Oatly cream, simply because the pack comes in 250ml.
• Recipe dairy-free-i-fied, with some method tweaks.
• This also works as one big traybake.
• The batter is incredibly runny — to stop it spilling through the cracks of a springform, line your tin with a full-coverage liner (circle tin liners are easy to find in most supermarkets).

Ingredients

Cake

• 175g caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 85g cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 free-range eggs
• 250ml soy milk or dairy milk
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225g plain flour
• 250ml boiling water

Ganache

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml Oatly whipping cream (or dairy double cream)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C for top-bottom heating, or 160°C fan.
2. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.
3. Place all the ingredients, except the flour and boiling water, in a large bowl. Beat until combined.
4. Fold in the flour (often easier in parts).
5. Add the boiling water a little at a time until you have a very wet, smooth batter.
6. Divide the batter between the two sandwich tins.
7. Bake for 30–40 minutes. The top should be firm, and a skewer through the centre should come out clean.
8. Remove the cakes and allow to cool completely. Turn them out of the tins once cooled.
9. If using Oatly whipping cream for the icing:
   • Melt the chocolate au bain-marie and, once fully melted, take it off the heat.
   • Add the Oatly cream piece by piece and whisk (I use an electric beater) until well combined and airy.
10. If using dairy double cream for the icing:
    • Heat the chocolate and cream together in a pan on low heat until the chocolate melts.
    • Remove from the heat and keep whisking until the mixture is smooth, glossy and thickened.
11. Set the ganache aside to cool and thicken for 1–2 hours, until it’s thick enough to spread. An hour tends to be enough in my (quite cold) kitchen.
12. Assemble by cutting flat the top of one of the cakes (this will be the bottom half), and spreading half the ganache onto each cake.
13. Stack the cakes and serve.